The Cambridge Apostles

The élite intellectual secret society, The Cambridge Apostles, was originally titled Cambridge Conversazione Society

It was set up in 1820 and counts John Maynard Keynes and Victor Rothschild amongst its former members.

Keynes, who is credited with providing the intellectual justification for high government spending in advanced economies, supposedly saved western capitalist societies from the ideas of Karl Marx.

The era of big government was followed by a period of inflation, strikes, monetarism, deregulation and supply side economics.

Victor Rothschild was known as a bit of a playboy and shared a flat with two of the four Cambridge KGB Spies – all former Apostles.

Rothschild himself was from a banking family and became a Labour Lord – eventually advising Mrs Thatcher and running an eminent government think tank – Central Policy Review.

In spite of lip service paid to Freedom of Information and sunlight as the best disinfectant, much of Britain’s operations are still conducted in the shadows – away from the scrutiny of regulators, the press and the public.

The public used to put up with secrecy on the basis that someone somewhere was probably being trusted with knowing what was really best for us all.

By asking a difficult question you would upset that delicate balance.

But now, despite the overall erosion of trust in our systems, something still holds us back from calling for transparency.